Airship.



J. FLINK.

AIRSHIP.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. I01 I916.

Patented Aug. 21, 1917.

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Patented Aug. 21, 1917.

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d'OHN FLINK, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

AIRSHIP.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, J OHN FLINK, a citlzen of the United.- States, residing at Philadel-.

phia, in the county .of. Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented new and useful Improvements in Airships, of j which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in airships, the primary object of the invention being to provide an airship having series of beating wings on opposite sldes of its lon 'tudinal center, each consisting V 1 of longitu inally' extending sets of lifting propellers rotatable at right angles to the line of flight, the. propellers of theopposlte series, being rotatable in opposite directions to secure eflicient balancing of the thrust pressures and lifting eifect, the propellers of the different sets being automatically controlled for a feathering action, whereby on the working motion of each propeller the propeller blades will be turned to a working position, while on the nonworking motion of each propeller the blades will be turned edgewise: to diminish air resistance.

A further object of the invention is to provide a construction of airship of the character described which is adapted to ascend or descend in a straight path, to hover over any given point, and to be steered and controlled in a vertical plane by varying the relative speeds of the series of propellers, thus allowing the shi to be balanced, banked and steered with e ciency.

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel construction of drive mechanism for actuating a driving propeller and also operating the lifting propellers, the said drive mechanism being so constructed as to admit of the different series of propellers being driven at'the same or different speeds and also to admit of the drlvlng propeller to turn into and out of action at will.

A still further object of the invention is to provide an airship of simple construction in which one or more, preferably two, dr ving motors will be employed for transmitting power to the working parts.

A still further object of the invention is to provide one or more supporting planes I Specification of iietters Patent. 21 1917 "Application filed October 10, 1,916. I Serial No. 124,890.

' struction, combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter fully described and claimed, reference being had to the accom panying drawings in which v Figure l is a front elevation of an airsh1p constructed in accordance with myinvention.

2 is a side elevation of the same. F1gg8 is a sectional plan view on line 3-3 of Fig. 2.' i

Fig. et is a faceview of one of the cam disks for feathering aiseries of propeller 1 blades.

Fig. 5 is a cross section through the easing. hub of one of the sets of propeller blades.

Fig. 6 is a vertical longitudinal section. through the same.

Fig. 7 is a horizontal section through the bow portion of the car, showing the drive gearing.

. 'Fig. 8 is a plan view of one of the supporting planes. I

Referring now more particularly to the drawing, 1 designates a boat-shaped car or body, provided'with wheels 2 or other suit able supporting means on which the same may rest upon the surface of the ground.

is a framework 3 of suitable construction provided with bearings for a pair of longitudinally extending parallel shafts 4 and 5 upon which are respectively mounted longitudinal sets or series 6 and 7 of rotary heaters, each consisting of a plurality of sets of rotary propeller blades. These longitudinal series of propellers are arranged on opposite sides of the longitudinal center of the machine, so that in the action 'of the series of propellers the lateral thrust pressures of one series will be counteracted by the lateral thrust pressures of the other series, whereby the ship will be kept trim or in a balanced position while in flight.

Each set of propellers comprises a hub 8 forming a casing carrying an annular series of propeller blades 9. Each of these propeller bladesis mounted upon a rod or stem 5 Carried by and rising from this car or body 10, the rods or stems of the respective blades The mechanism for feathering the blades comprises a pinion 11 on each of the rods or stems 10, with which meshes a rack bar 12 carried by a longitudinally extending sliding controlling rod 13. The similar blades of all of the propellers of each series are arranged to be actuated by one and the same controlling rod and the series of rods for feathering the blades of each series of propellers extend longitudinally through and are slidably mounted in the respective hubs or casings 8, each rod being normally held in a forward retracted position by springs 14 surrounding the same, between certain of the hubs 8 and abutments 15 upon. the rod. At their forward ends the rods are provided with rollers 16 to traverse the surface of a stationary disk 17, which is suitably fixed to the framework 3 and is provided around a portion of its face with a cam element 18. As each series of propellers revolves with its driving shaft, the rollers of the series of controlling rods come at a prescribed point in their course of rotation in contact with the cam element 18. This cam element 18 pushes each rod back against the resistance of its contracting springs, thus moving the rack bars to impart a quarter revolution to the pinions, whereby the propeller blades are shifted to a broad-side working position throu hout the working portion of their orbit o motion, the rollers of the rods at all other times traversing the plain surface of the cam disk and being held retracted by their springs, so that on the nonworking portion of their orbit of movement the blades will move edgewise through the air. As a result of this construction, it will be apparent that on the outer and downward stroke of each blade for a beating action the blade will be disposed horizontally to compress the air beneath it for a lifting effect, while during the remainder of its travel the blade will extend edgewise to its plane of rotation and will thus move without material air resistance through the nonworking portion of its orbit of motion.

Arranged within the car or body 1 are motors 19 which transmit motion to a com mon horizontal transverse driving shaft 20. Fixed to this shaft 20 is a friction driving disk 21, the opposite faces of which are enaged by friction power transmitting disks 22 and 23 feathered to slide upon and rotate with longitudinal transmission shafts 24 and 25 which are respectively connected by drive chains 26 and 27 with the propeller shafts 4 and 5, whereby said shafts 4: and 5 are adapted to be driven simultaneously in opposite directions. The disks 2'2 and 23 are provided with grooved collars 522 and 23 for cooperation with suitable controlling or shifting means (not shown) whereby said disks may be adjusted upon the transmission shafts to throw them into or out of engagement with the friction drive disk 21 at will, or to adjust them to the same or variable degrees over the face of said drive disk with relation to its axis, by means of which the sets of propellers may be driven at any desired working speed, and also driven at different relative speeds. It will thus be understood that this series of propellers may be driven above or below sustentation speed to cause the ship to rise or descend in a controlled manner, or driven at sustentation speed to support the weight of the craft while in flight at any given elevation, or driven at different speeds for more ffectively controlling the craft in balancing, banking and turning actions.

For the purpose of driving the craft ahead I provide a tractor propeller 28 mounted upon ashaft 29 having feathered thereto a sleeve 30 carrying a gear pinion 31. This pinion 31 is movable through a sliding motion of said sleeve into independent meshing engagement with gear pinions 32 and 33 on the shafts 24 and 25, or to a neutral position between said shaft gears, whereby the propeller may be driven in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction at will or entirely thrown out of action. The sliding sleeve carries a grooved collar 30 for connection with suitable shifting or controlling means (not shown) whereby the propeller gearing may be governed in an obvious manner. It will be understood, of course, that the propeller when driven in one direction will operate as a tractor and when driven in the opposite direction will act as a brake to stop or retard the forward motion of the ship, for greater convenience in controlling it in flight to avoid collisions and for other purposes. A vertical rudder 33 is provided at the stern and may be adjusted through suitable controlling means (not shown) for steering the craft to the right or left, it being evident that by the use of this rudder in conjunction with the rotary propellers, when the latter are properly governed for banking and turning actions, the machine may be steered in a ready and convenient manner. Suitably mounted upon the frame 3 are supporting planes or surfaces 34, of which any desired number may be used. In the present instance I have shown the use of two of such supporting surfaces, arranged in tandem relation one at the front and the other at the rear of the craft. Each of these supporting surfaces consists of a pair of wings 35 pivotally mounted at their inner forward corners upon driving countershafts 36 and 37 said wings being provided at their inner rearward corners with guide members 38 to travel within a grooved guideway 39, the construction being such that the wings are mounted to turn upon their shafts as centers outwardly and rearwardly to a working position and inwardly and forwardly to mantra other and to the line of, flight, wherebythe wings may be thrown into action whenever it is desired to employ them inconjunctionwith the rotary ropellers for a supporting action, and may e thrown out of operation or folded when their use is not required. The shafts 36 and 37 of each set of supporting Wings are provided with intermeshing gears 38 and 39 to adapt them to swing in unison, and the driving shaft 37 of each pair of wings is also provided with a beveled gear 40 meshing witha similar gear 41 on a transmitting shaft 42, whereby the two shafts 36 and 37 may be rotated in unison.

One of the shafts 36 and 37, as the shaft 37 of the rear wings, extends downwardly into the car and is provided at its lower end with a beveled gear 43 meshingwith a similar gear 44 on a longitudinally extending actuating shaft 45. This shaft 45 is adapted to be thrown, by means of a clutch device 46, into and out of engagement with a shaft 47 adapted to receive motion from a shaft 48 through suitable reversing gearing arranged in a housing 49, whereby, when the clutch elements 46 are engaged, the shaft 45 may be actuated to either open or close the wings. The shaft 48 is provided with a friction gear to engage the disk 31 whereby it may be driven. It will, of course, be understoodthat the reversing gearing may be operated by a control device of any preferred construction to drive the shaft 47 in the same direction as the shaft 48 or in the reverse direction, and it will also be understood that any suitable type of reversing gearing may be employed.

From the foregoin description, taken in connection with the rawings, the construction and mode of operation of my improved airship will be readily understood, and it will be seen that a construction is provided which is designed to effectually perform the intended functions. disclosed is preferred, it will, of course, be understood that changes in the form, details of construction and arrangement of parts may be made within the scope of the ap- While the construction I I pended claims without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

I claim v 1. An airship including a body, longitudinally extending shafts on the opposite sides of the longitudinal center of the body, a series of rotary lifting propellers mounted upon each shaft, each series comprising a plurality of sets of propeller blades having inwardly extending stems, spring retracted rods having rack pinion connection with the stems of correspondingly arranged blades of each series, and a stationary element cooperatingwith each set of rods for moving the same in opposition to their springs to rotate the blades on their axes for a feathering action.

2. An airship including a body, propeller shafts upon the body, lifting propellers carried by said shafts, transmission shafts in gear with the propeller shafts, a motor,

gearing for driving the transmission shafts.

in opposite directions from the motor, gears upon the transmission shafts, a driving propeller, and a gear upon the driving propeller shaft adjustable into and out of engagement with either of the aforesaid gears upon the transmission shafts.

3. An airship including a body, wings on independent pivots mounted upon the body for folding and unfolding actions, slotted arcuate guides described on the arcs of circles of which said Pivots are centers for di- -recting said wings in such folding and unfolding actions, propelling mechanism on the body, motor driven gearing for actuating said propelling means, and means operable by the engine for folding and unfolding the wings.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

JOHN FLINK. 

